Hair brushes



y 1966 A. M. HERSCHENSOHN 3,253,292

HAIR BRUSHES Filed May 15, 1964 Fl G O 4 F I 6.6 F I 6.7

INVENTOR, Arthur M.Herschensohn, BY

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,253,292 HAIR BRUSHES Arthur M. Herschensohn, 3Lorraine Place, Scarsdale, N.Y. Filed May 15, 1964, Ser. No. 367,767 4Claims. (Cl. 15-401) The present invention relates to hair brushes.

An object of this invention is to provide novel and improved hairbrushes afiording mechanical action to penetrate thick tresses, dig tothe scalp and cause drag on the hair and scalp to accomplish the effectsof massage and which brushes by their automatic manipulations give usersa new hair-brushing sensation.

It is to be noted that a hair grows from the bottom of a little pit orfollicle; the part which lies within the follicle being known as theroot. Connected with each follicle are small muscles ofplain musculartissue. The ducts of what are known as the sebaceous glands, open intothe hair-follicles and ecrete a fatty oily substance (sebum) which theydischarge into the hair-follicles, which action in the opinion ofmedical authority occurs upon actuation of said muscles. The sebumlubricates the hairs and renders them glossy. All hair, except at theroots, are not alive.

Heretofore, the action of a brush passed through the hair merely wipedthe hair and scratched the scalp. The wiping of the hair spread any oilysubstance, evenly therealong. Only the dead part of the hair got anyaction from the brushing. The live part got none.

It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a novel andimproved hair brush which will agitate the root of the hair and itsassociated muscle tissue and environs to bring additional sebum to thehair and thus, after repeated brushings, there would be a materialincrease in the luster of the hair.

Only if hairs are tightly entwined or knotted, would any'attempt tobrush them cause them to be pulled. Brushing hair through which a combcan easily be passed, does not pull the hair. There is nothing tointercept the brush bristles and there is nothing to make the brushbristles to tug the hair. There is nothing to bring exercise to the hairroot and its associated muscle tissue.

It is therefore another object of this invention to pro-, vide a noveland improved hair brush which in its normal manipulation willautomatically pinch and tug the hair and thus exercise the hair rootsand their environments.

Still a further object thereof is to provide a novel 'and improved hairbrush of the character described,

which is easily cleanable, simple in construction, reasonable in cost tomanufacture and efficient in carrying out the purposes for which it isdesigned.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosureproceeds.

For one practice of this invention, the brush back consists of a centralresilient elongated spine in extension of a handle and having a seriesof closely spaced ribs extending laterally therefrom in the manner offingers from its opposite side edges and there are bristle tuftsextending from the undersides of said spine and its ribs. Said spine isflexible in the general plane of the fingers and in directionsperpendicular to said plane as well as to some degree in torsion.

I will now set forth in detail several embodiments of this invention,for which I shall refer to the accompanying drawing forming part of thisspecification, in

which drawing, similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a hair brush embodying the teachings ofthis invention.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are pictorial views showing the brush in use andvarious conditions assumed by its structure 3,253,292 Patented May 31,1966 due to its movement or handle manipulation. views are drawn to areduced scale.

FIG. 5 shows the underside of a modified form of brush back includingthe sockets in the spine and ribs in which bristle tufts are to bemounted.

FIG. 6 shows the upper side of another form of brush back.

FIG. 7 shows the upper side of still another brush back design.

FIGS. 5-7 are drawn to a smaller scale than that of FIG. 1.

In the drawing, the numeral 15 designates generally a hair brush of thetype comprising a brush back indicated generally by the numeral 16having a handle 17 integral therewith. This unitary member may be of anysuitable flexible plastic as polypropylene for instance. Said brush backconsists of a spine element 18 which is centrally of the handle andextends therefrom as a canti-lever having a series of ribs or fingerswhich are closely spaced and extend laterally therefrom from both sidefaces thereof. All the elements comprising said brush back and thehandle are generally coplanar. The fingers along one side of said spineelement 18 are designated by the numerals 19-24 respectively while thefingers along the other side are denoted by the numerals 1924'respectively. Said spine and all its fingers, on their undersurface,have closely spaced sockets as in the manner shown in the modifiedembodiment of FIG. 5 and indicated by the numeral 25. Even the handlepart may have some sockets 26, into all of which sockets are mountedbristle tufts as 27, to extend therefrom. The numeral 28 denotes a holewhich may be provided through the handle portion. The spine element 18is bendable and resiliently flexed when moved so its distal end movessidewise in either direction, up or down and even permits some torsionalstressing thereof for twisting movement. This brush of FIG. 1, has itsfingers arranged in pairs which as shown, diverge towards the handle 17.In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, corresponding fingers as indicated at29, 29 are in alignment and perpendicular to the spine element 30. InFIG. 7, the fingers as shown, are arranged in a combination of suchrelationships with respect to the spine element 31 thereof. The severalembodiments are given as examples of various designs the brush may have,in order to function in accordance with this invention.

It is evident that the extensive openwork of the brush back offers easycleaning of the entire brush structure by merely allowing a flow ofwater therethrough, but such openwork has been provided to allow variousother manipulations and thus accomplish various actions of the brush,which will be explained by referring to the FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of thedrawing. In FIG. 2, the bristles have been dug into the hair at the backof the head 33 and the brush 15 is being moved downwardly as indicatedby the arrow A. What happens, is that the spine element 18 becomes bentso it is convex on its leading side whereby the tips of the fingers ofthe series 19-24 will spread apart and of course, said spine element 18will be concave at its trailing side, hence the tips of the fingers ofthe series l9'24 will come towards each other, causing the bristle tuftsto pinch the hair between them, for the bristles are of generally stiifmaterial. The attendant movement of the brush will cause the pinchedhair to be tugged, dragged on and pulled. The thicker the hair mass is,the sharper will be the curvature assumed by the spine element 18. InFIG. 3, upon upward movement of the brush as indicated by the arrow B,or in any direction for that matter, the tips of the brush fingers Theseon the trailing side will always approach each other and of the series19-24. Augmented'penetrating action is imparted to the brush as well asto the pressure of the bristles against the scalp, by bending the handle17 away from the head as in FIG. 4, and further brushing effectivenesscan be had by a twist of the wrist to twist the handle a bit as itindicated by the rotational arrow C in FIG. 4. Of course, when the brushis free of flexing forces, it will assume its normal straight conditionas is shown in FIG. 1.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applicationswithout departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It istherefore intended and desired that the embodiments shown herein shallbe deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patentshall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being hadto the following claims rather than to the specific description andshowings herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a hair brush of the character described, a handle, a brush backcomprising a flexible spine element extending as a cantilever from saidhandle, a first series of closely spaced fingers extending laterallyfrom one side and a second series of closely spaced fingers extendinglaterally from the opposite side of said spine element and tufts ofrelatively stiff bristles extending downwardly from at least the fingersof said brush back whereby when the brush is pulled through hair throughwhich a comb can pass, said spine will bend so that the distal ends ofthe fingers on the trailing side of the brush will approach each other.

2. A hair brush as defined in claim 2, wherein aid spine element isstressible in torsion.

3. A hair brush as defined in claim 1, wherein the handle is elongatedand said spine element extends from an end of said handle.

4. A hair brush as defined in claim 1, wherein the fingers of the firstseries and those of the second series extend from opposite regions ofthe spine element respectively.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 831,493 9/1906Wilcox 132156 1,860,924 5/1932 Cooke 15167 2,185,050 12/1939 Chiraello15-160 X 2,796,620 6/1957 Bressler 15201 CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, PrimaryExaminer.

' PETER FELDMAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A HAIR BRUSH OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, A HANDLE, A BRUSH BACKCOMPRISING A FLEXIBLE SPINE ELEMENT EXTENDING AS A CANTILEVER FROM SAIDHANDLE, A FIRST SERIES OF CLOSELY SPACED FINGERS EXTENDING LATERALLYFROM ONE SIDE AND A SECOND SERIES OF CLOSELY SPACED FINGERS EXTENDINGLATERALLY FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID SPINE ELEMENT AND TUFTS OFRELATIVELY STIFF BRISTLES EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM AT LEAST THE FINGERSOF SAID BRUSH BACK WHEREBY WHEN THE BRUSH IS PULLED THROUGH HAIR THROUGHWHICH A COMB CAN PASS, SAID SPINE WILL BEND SO THAT THE DISTAL ENDS OFTHE FINGERS ON THE TRAILING SIDE OF THE BRUSH WILL APPROACH EACH OTHER.